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kind have, either the Laws of Nature, or the revealed Will of God, we may do either good or evil, and may deferve either Rewards or Punishments, and then we may be judged too.

III. Whatever Being acts by Neceffity or Fate, not by Choice, is no more capable of being judged than the Winds and Seas are, or any other natural and neceffary Caufes; for where there is no choice, there is neither moral good nor evil: But Man is a free Agent, who not only knows the difference between good and evil, but can chufe the good, and refufe the evil, and therefore he is capable of praife or blame, of rewards or punishments, for the good or evil which he does; that is, he may be called to an account, and be judged for what he does.

Efpecially, IV. If he be an Inferior,and fubordinate Creature, who has a Superior to judge him: To judge indeed is an act of Superior Authorityand Power, and therefore those who have none above them, cannot be judged; but an Inferior is by the condition of his nature, or circumftances of life, obnoxious to the Judgment of his Superiors; for the very notion of a Superior and Inferior fignifies to govern, and to be governed; to judge, and to be judged. An Inferior is obnoxious to the Judgment of his Superior, who may judge him if he pleases; and this is the condition of all Mankind, if we believe that there is a God above us, who is our Natural Lord.

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So that Man by his very nature and condition was made to be judged; which is a very good argument that he fhall be judged, if we will but allow, that God will govern all Creatures according to their natures; which is effential to the Wif

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dom and Justice of his Government: As to take a particular review of this matter.

1. If it be naturally decent and fitting, that a reafonable Creature fhould give a reafon of his Actions, why should we doubt, whether the wife Governor of the World will require a reafon of him, and call him to an account? Reafon makes us capable of giving an account of our Actions, and which is more than that, it makes us fenfible, that we ought to give an account; our own minds exact an account of us, and when we cannot give a good account to our felves, we blufh alone, when no body fees us; nay, Reafon makes us fo liable to give an account, that it requires no Authority to ask it, it is what we owe to all Mankind, and the meaneft man may expect it from us, as well as our Judge; and when we cannot give a reafonable account of our Actions, a Child or Beggar fhall fhame and confound us, whatever our Quality or Character be. And it would feem ftrange, if Reason fhould make us accountable to all the World but only to God, who is the Sovereign Lord of all; that God fhould make us accountable to our felves, and to all other reafonable Beings, but not to himself.

2. If GOD have given man a Rule of Life, and a natural Measure of Good and Evil, can it be thought that he will require no account of him, whether he keeps or breaks thefe Laws? For to what purpofe then did he give 'em? How contemptible are Laws without a Sanction, or a Sanction without a Judge to difpence Rewards and Punifhments? To give Laws without taking notice how they are obferved, or punahing the breach

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of them, is fo very abfurd, that no Human 'Government was ever wholly guilty of fuch Folly; and why fhould we charge God with fuch Abfurdities in Government, as would be ridiculous in Men? If we will but allow God as much Wisdom and Difcretion as an Earthly Prince, we may certainly conclude, That if he have given Laws to men, he will judge them by thofe Laws.

3. There is no way of governing a free Agent as man is, but by Hopes and Fears, by Rewards and Punishments; For Force and Violence is not the Government of a free Agent, because it deftroys its liberty; fo that if God govern Mankind at all, he muft judge them: that is, he muft Reward or Punish them according to the Good or Evil they do; and though this does not directly and immediately prove a Future Judgment, yet it is a fair ftep towards it, as will appear more hereafter: All that I defire to conclude from hence at prefent is only this, That if God govern Men like reasonable Creatures, he muft judge them; and if we have as great affurance that God will judge the world, as we have that he governs it, there is an end of this Difpute, to men who believe a God and a Providence.

Nay, indeed we need only suppose that man was made by a wife Being, to prove that he shall be judged; i. e. that he fhall be rewarded or pu nifhed for all the Good or Evil that he does in the world; for a Wife Being will take care to govern the Creatures which he makes, and to govern them in fuch a way as is agreeable to the Nature he has given them and fince Man, who is a free Agent, can be governed only by Hopeş

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and Fears, God would never have made man, had he not intended to judge him; that is, he would never have made fuch a Creature as can be governed only by the hope of Rewards, and by the fear of Punishments, had he not refolved to lay these restraints upon him, to Reward and Punish him according to his Works. How neceffary Rewards and Punishments are to the Government of Mankind we fee in Human Societies, which cannot fubfift without them: notwithstanding the fevereft Laws, and the fevereft Executions, every Age, and every Country produces great prodigies of Wickedness, which no doubt would be much greater and more numerous, were there no Laws and Government to reftrain them; and when the univerfal experience of Mankind convinces the World of the neceffity of Laws and Government, why should we think that the Wife Maker of Man fhould not over-awe him also with a fenfe of his own Power and Juftice, which is a more effectual reftraint than the Rods and Axes of Princes?

4. Thus if man by the condition of his Nature be an inferior depending Creature, he is by Nature accountable to God, who is his Sovereign Lord; and this is a good Argument that he muft give an account of himself to God: For there is no reason to think that God will not call Man to an account, when he has made him by nature accountable to himself; for the nature of things is the moft certain Rule to know how God will govern them; at least the nature of things is a ftrong prefumption, unless there be plain and pofitive evidence to the contrary. He who acknowledges, that man is by Nature an inferior Creature,who

is accountable to God for all his Actions, muft reasonably take it for granted, without any further proof, that God will judge him, and call him to an account; for God has declared his intentions to judge him, by making him fuch a Creature as is to be judged: And there is no pretence and fhew of Reafon to fay, that God will not take an account of man, whom he has by nature made an accountable Creature, unlefs we can produce a plain and exprefs Revelation of God's Will, that he will not judge Mankind, No man can prove by Reafon, that God will not judge Mankind, for no reafon can be good against the nature of things, and the nature of things do most reafonably prove a Judgment; and therefore we ought to take it for granted, that God will judge the World, till we fee a plain Revelation, that he will not.

This is worth obferving, because it puts the proof upon those who deny a Judgment, where in reafon it ought to lye: For those who have the reafon and nature of things on their fide, have as good natural evidence as they can have, and need feek no farther; but those who will believe contrary to the nature of things, ought to prove their Exemption from the Laws and Condition of their Nature.

I defire you feriously to confider this, and to lay it to heart, for it is a very fenfible Argument, and if well managed, will convince you how foolish and unreafonable all your hopes are of efcaping the Judgment of God, unless you have fome fecret Revelation of this, which the reft of Mankind know nothing of: To represent this as plainly and familiarly as I can, give me

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